Homeless Hearts
by cgal120
Summary: When Amelia Jones moved to England with her family at the age of 9, she was constantly in her brother, Alfred's, shadow. Now doing something she loves, Amelia is finding herself with brand new opportunities - but it's the lonely guy who works with her brother that has her focus now, and they are about to change each other's lives forever. UKxFem!US. Amelia's POV. Multi-pairings.
1. The Lonesome Stranger

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter One**

**The Lonesome Stranger**

Trusting people was something that I was never able to do properly. I had been hurt far too many times by people who had promised me that they really did care for me, that everything was okay and that they would be there forever.

I wasn't exactly the most attractive teenager – when I was 14 I was a plump girl with glasses and baggy clothes. My mother liked to make sure that I was eating a lot and some of the time it wasn't exactly the healthiest food in the world. So that never helped my weight issues.

The other kids would bully me for my weight, my glasses, and my interests – basically anything that would make me different from everyone else was a target. I adored video games – I had a blog online dedicated to all the retro and modern video games that I had collected, played or simply wanted to get. Music was a big part of my life – all those different bands and singers that came up with such meaningful lyrics that made me feel better about myself for a few minutes or could help me see past what was happening to me.

No guy would come near me with a ten foot pole. That was for sure. Who would want to go out with a fat loser like me? My hair was scruffy, my glasses looked as though they had come out of an episode of Dexter's Laboratory, and our school uniform only made me look worse.

It didn't help that I was a fairly new kid too. My mother, father and twin brother Alfred had moved over from the States when Al and I were 9 years old. Alfred was automatically more popular than I was – he always was. He just had that way about him – that winning smile, perfect blue eyes and blonde hair, flawless skin. I was identical to him but no one took much notice of me. Not even my parents apart from to give me food.

By the time the end of Year 11 came, the end of our time in school, Alfred was outside the front of our house with his date to the prom dressed in a tuxedo with a bow tie that matched the colour of Sakura's dress. People were taking pictures of them, giving them compliments of how great they looked, how they were so proud of them and how well they were going to do in life.

I was in my bedroom with my laptop on the table, the TV showing the live footage of the Harry Potter premier as I looked online for video games to help me lose weight. I was ordering anything and everything I could think of, refusing any food from my mother and trying to slim down as fast as I could.

No one had asked me to go to the prom. I didn't have any friends coming with me from school, they had all decided that they hated me so there was no hope for me on that front – I was totally alone. Even Alfred had told me to get lost when I asked whether I could go with him and Honda. Nothing could be said against Mommy's Golden Boy, so I acted like I never wanted to go in the first place – I told my mother that she would be saving money not having to hire out a big dress for me, get my nails done, my hair and makeup…

According to Alfred, the evening was absolutely boring. He had stayed out on the pretence of being round a friend's house after the prom was over, but he let it slip to me that he had gone to an after party and ended up drunk and in bed with Sakura.

Needless to say, I wasn't too keen to hear about my brother's sex life. Luckily, the moron wasn't that slaughtered so he had used protection – I didn't want to become an aunt any time soon.

After that point, we were thrown into a long summer in which I spent the majority of my time going out for runs, working out in my bedroom with the Wii and keeping an eye on my diet. Mom was worried about how quickly I was losing weight, but I didn't listen to her – I was finally feeling good about myself. I managed to find a part time job in a local store too, saving my money up to get myself properly made up – I got my hair cut and styled nicely, I had my nails manicured and pedicured, I even started buying some pretty makeup that looked really natural.

My sense of style changed as I got older and my body toned properly – I was wearing more girly clothes, creating styles of my own and by the time it came for me to graduate from college at the age of 18 I was actually getting attention from guys – something that had always been a foreign concept to me. It was nice, flattering even.

I didn't know what I wanted to do when I left college – nothing seemed to be right for me. I had done a media course, but nowhere was hiring despite media being the new stomping ground of the world.

It didn't help that during that whole time, Mom and Dad had started arguing more and more – every comment had a sarcastic response, names were shouted and sometimes I saw Mom hit Dad… It wasn't the best environment for me, hearing all the hate when I was trying to make myself feel better. But I never said anything. How could I? It wasn't my place to do so.

As soon as I left college, I left my job in the shop and found a better paying one in a local pub just to help keep my money up. For a time, I was paying Mom and Dad a fee to keep my bedroom and to go towards food and drink – I kept looking for places but always unlucky.

To rub salt in my wounds, Alfred had managed to get an apprenticeship with an amazing media company – one that had ties with the BBC, ITV, C4… TV, radio, film, graphics… Anything you could possibly think of working in, this place had the connections, training opportunities and amazing payments. But when I tried to get a placement, they said that all the places for that year had been filled.

Sorry. Try again next year.

Frustrated, I focused on my own interests. I created a YouTube channel – one where I talked about my life, my feelings… I started to get more subscribers and video views, something that I hadn't really expected to happen. So I began to branch out – I made my videos better, brighter, professional; I made tutorials, reviews, style advice, occasional gaming videos – people got a kick out of me playing _Slender_. When Mom and Dad were out of the house, I would film cooking videos where I made healthy snacks or tempting treats like cupcakes and brownies.

Of course, my mother and father would eat the final products and were none the wiser about my videos – but they could see that I was building in confidence.

When my channel hit 25,000 subscribers, that's when I truly knew that I was on to something great. I was offered a partnership, something that I snapped up instantly – I was going to get paid for doing something that I was good at, something that was mine and mine alone.

As soon as my money started to build up more, I decided to move out of my parent's house to an apartment near the pub that I still worked in. I was very happy to keep working – I had actually made two great friends in that bar who knew of my videos and shared my interests. It kept me social, and that was something that I still needed practice on despite the confidence my videos were giving me.

Alfred had moved out too, heading in the opposite direction to me – he knew of my videos too, helping me out occasionally but respecting my choices now that we had matured.

I was working late one night in the pub, Lovina and Feliciana Vargas (my two friends) were collecting glasses and serving with me whilst Gilbert was out the back changing the barrels. Outside the doors, I could hear a ruckus happening – rubbing my temples as I watched a group of guys come into the building, laughing and dunking each other; they seemed drunk already, but when I saw Alfred amongst them I knew that they were just being childish. They were our age if not a little older; probably between 19 and 21 years old.

Alfred walked over to the bar and grinned at me. "Hey, Amie, how's everything?"

"Everything's okay," I smiled. "What would you lot like to drink?"

After listing everything off to me, he watched as I started to get him all of his drinks. "So, you guys seem to be having a lot of fun already. How was your day?"

"Amelia, it was fucking amazing!" grinned Alfred. "We got to meet some higher ups and they were impressed with us. Like super impressed."

"Well, if they're all as talented as you are then I'm not surprised," I said, handing him the last of the drinks. He chuckled and paid me the money he owed before carrying the tray over to his friends, leaving me to wash out some glasses and watch them curiously.

Alfred had a large group of friends at the Global Media – a varied bunch of characters that all seemed to have their own personalities but they all seemed to bounce off of each other incredibly.

One guy stood out to me though as he stood up in the middle of the group, pushing a posh English accent and acting as though he was on a Shakespearean stage. He bowed exaggeratedly, winking at those watching him and laughing along with everyone else as they joked and drank to their hearts content to mark the end of another week.

"They're so noisy," Lovina complained as she walked over to me, leaning against the bar. "Why is your brother always so loud?"

"He wasn't born with a mute button," I shrugged, setting the glass in my hand down to move onto another one. "Oh, I'd hate to be that guy if Ludwig came in and saw him trying to look up Feli's skirt."

Looking round quickly, Lovina's eyes scanned the guys and found the one trying to look under her younger sister's skirt. "Hey! Eyes up!" she shouted, smirking as the guy spilt his drink in his lap in shock. "That saves that bastard a job."

Rolling my eyes a little, I chuckled as Feliciana walked along and continued with her work none the wiser of what had just happened – I would have been right though. Ludwig Beilschmidt, Gilbert's younger brother, was a German mechanic known for having a short temper but treated Feliciana with so much respect he put a lot of other guys to shame. He would have beaten that guy half to death with a beer matt if he had caught him.

I looked around as Alfred came over to the bar again and ordered more drinks from Lovina, so walked over and leant on the bar. "Hey, Al… Who's that guy with you? The blonde one with the big eyebrows and green eyes."

"Oh, that's Arthur Kirkland," Alfred said, counting off the drinks as Lovina put them on the tray again. "He's pretty funny – a total lunatic, but he comes out with some fucking brilliant jokes."

I watched him walk away again and sighed a little, looking at the time. 8:30pm.

It was going to be a very long night."

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"Are you sure you don't want us to walk you home?" asked Gilbert.

He, Feli, Ludwig, Lovina and her boyfriend Antonio were stood outside of the pub with me as Gilbert locked up the backdoor. They'd all be heading in the opposite direction to me, leaving me to walk through the local park by myself.

Alfred and his friends had left the pub an hour earlier, and as soon as they had gone we realised that it was actually pretty dead in there.

"I'll be okay," I said, waving them off.

"But."

"No, Gil, I'll be fine okay?" I smiled. They nodded reluctantly and started to make their ways home, leaving me alone as I usually was. Taking a deep breath, I crossed the road and made my way into the park – nervous as I usually was at walking home alone in the dark by myself. It was my own choice, and I didn't want to be a burden – Alfred would walk me home from time to time, but he was God knows where and I didn't feel like dragging anyone else around the park with me.

Making sure my bag was over my shoulders and the strap tightly in hand, I started to walk along the path through the middle of the park. In the distance, I could see the window of my apartment – it wasn't too far away, but it was still too far for me to feel remotely safe at that moment.

As I got to the middle of the park, right where the play area was, I was shocked to see someone laying in the large basket swing, slowly swaying backwards and forwards. Their arms and legs were draping out over the side of the basket, and from the length and physical aspects, this person was definitely a man.

Walking closer, I hopped up onto the play area and took a quick look into the basket as I walked by. It was that Arthur person. Kirkland?

"Hey…" I said nervously, trying not to sound so as he blinked up at me. "Are you okay?"

"You're that girl from the pub…" he said, running a hand through his hair. "Urgh, this is God telling me to keep drinking…"

"A barmaid appearing is a sign to keep drinking," I said, leaning on the frame of the swing. "What are you doing, Arthur?"

"How do you know my name?" he asked me, sitting up a little.

"I'm Alfred Jones' twin sister," I explained. Arthur blinked and tilted his head, obviously trying to take in the similarities between myself and my brother.

"Well… you're certainly a lot prettier than your brother…" he said, lying back in the swing again. I blinked, blushing a little – I knew it was likely because he was drunk that he was saying such things but it still caught me off guard. "What's a young girl like you doing out in the dark by yourself?"

"I'm walking home," I said. "And you're only a bit older than me so less of the young girl stuff."

He chuckled and span the swing round to look up at me, smiling a little. "Well, you should be careful," Arthur said. "Pretty girl like you. Anyone could try something."

"I can take care of myself," I smiled, pushing his swing back round again. "What about you? Why are you out here?"

"Contemplating the meaning of life," he said, looking up at the stars. "The guys all left to go to another bar and never told me what one when I went to the bathroom. Guess I'm good for one round and that's it."

"Oh…" I said. "I had no idea they ditched you…"

"Don't worry," he said, sighing a little. "I'm more than used to it. Now… go. Okay? I don't want you getting hurt cos I'm far too drunk to be able to help you."

"What about you?"

"I'm not drunk enough to be a danger to myself so I'll be fine," he said.

Reluctantly, I walked away from the peculiar man on the swing and made my way back to my apartment, glancing back at him every so often. I had no idea why I was worrying about him so much, that was the first time I had talked to him. Ever.

But little did I know, that that first meeting was going to be the start of something great.

_**Notes:**_

**And I started a new series.**

**I hope you guys stick around for this one and give some opinions and things. First chapters are always choppy but the story will become a lot clearer as time goes on.**

**See you laters :)**


	2. The Show Is Over

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter Two**

**The Show Is Over**

I love the summer season – the clothes are always soft and floaty, everything to keep you cool as the sun beats down on the hot pavement sometimes burning your feet through the bottom of thin sandals. That was certainly the case for me a fair few times, but luckily that day I had decided to stay indoors and do some simple filming.

When I had got home the night before all I could think about was the things Arthur had said to me. I didn't know why I was so confused by him, why him calling me pretty made butterflies flutter in my stomach – in the time I had lost all that weight, plenty of guys had called me beautiful, pretty, whatever nice adjective you could think of. Stuff like that had never affected me before – probably because I wasn't used to it, but as I laid in bed and thought about everything that had just happened I couldn't help but wonder whether it was affecting me because Arthur wasn't trying to flirt with me.

All the other guys had stood before me, looming over me to try and prove their masculinity in some way. Tall, buff men most often, the Alpha Males trying to prove to their packs that they could bring home a pretty girl to be with. They looked at me like I was a piece of meat in a dress that they could simply devour as they wished, and called me such wonderful names that I just stood there and shook my head.

Arthur though… He had been drunk but hadn't flirted with me as the others had. He just laid there on the swing mucking about as he span around, smiling at me and saying I was pretty. He talked as though he thought more of me than he did my brother, which was an amazing feat for me as no one ever thought more of me than my brother.

My parents certainly didn't. They harassed me constantly about what my plans were going to be when I left college… Are you going to university? Are you getting an internship? An apprenticeship? Are you looking for a better job, you can't work in that grotty little shop any longer?! Have you met somebody nice yet? You know, if you did that and got married they could look after you – especially if they are nice and rich!

Whenever I didn't have a decent answer – which was pretty much every time my mother spoke to me – I would get an earful about how I was throwing my life away playing video games and guitar and writing my thoughts down in a journal. How was I going to get anywhere in life by sitting in front of a computer screen typing away faster than I was breathing.

Oh, that was another thing that my mother was ever so kind to pick up on – it's no wonder your eye sight is so bad when your staring at that monitor for 12 hours a day! I say, you have to give it break from time to time! THOSE PICTURE WILL MAKE THEMSELVES, AMELIA, JUST STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER. JOIN US IN THE REAL WORLD WITH REAL PEOPLE, NOT THOSE PEOPLE ONLINE WHO YOU THINK ARE YOUR FRIENDS BUT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE PEDOS.

Oh, how often I would point out to her that I was over 16 meaning that I was legally allowed to have sex so paedophiles wouldn't be after me. But she never listened.

Golden Boy was allowed on his computer all the time, playing games online with his friends and making silly little artworks of characters and typography to tell the story in such beautiful ways that I wished I had the talent that he had. But, alas, that wasn't seen by my parents – my talent that was.

I could sing, I could play guitar, I could make a graphic as good as Alfred – hell, I could make people laugh if I tried.

But Golden Boy came first as he always did…

After a long and tiresome night, I woke up and rolled over to look at my digital alarm clock – Saturday 4th August, 9am. I had woken earlier than I had expected I would, but knew that if I stayed in bed, I would only go back to sleep again and waste my day away. Besides, I had better plans going on that day.

Lovina and Feli were going to come round and model some of their clothes with me for my next fashion video. You see, Lovina and Feliciana are twins with the same kind of drive that I do. They went through college a year before more but have been working in the pub for a similar length of time – that was how we met and got to know each other.

They studied fashion and textiles and were naturals at it, so put their good team work together and started to design their own clothes – Feli normally did the sketches and arty side of the process whilst Lovina stuck herself with pins making the final piece. They had designed some one-of-a-kind things for me that I had commissioned and shared with my viewers – and they loved it, all of them crying out for more of these amazing indie designers.

So, after putting the idea forward to them, the twins agreed to show case their clothes, bags and jewellery on my channel – modelling them themselves and creating some more awesome clothes as thanks for the promotion. They had been contacted by a few places to create some designs and were looking over the offers with Antonio and Ludwig as back up readers to make sure they weren't being had – I was hoping to find out any time soon what their decision was going to be.

After taking a quick shower and straightening my hair, I put on a vest top and a see-through-blue blouse and some short-shorts before going into my spacious living room and setting the camera up on the tri-pod for when the twins showed up. I made myself some breakfast as I waited, going out onto the small balcony to eat. Before I could lost in staring down at the park, I was summoned inside by the ringing of my doorbell – the twins were here and it was time to get to work.

"Hi guys," I smiled as I opened my door, letting the pair walk inside and set their bags down.

"Some dresses, necklaces and shirts," Feliciana grinned, rummaging through the bags and showing me each of the outfits. "Neon is back in at the moment, so we focused out style on that."

"Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to make you anything this time," Lovina said, smiling at me awkwardly. "Clothes wise that is. The jewellery is all yours."

"That's okay," I chuckled. "You two are way prettier than me so you can do the modelling, I'll do the presenting."

"You are too pretty!" Feli said, pouting at me. "You're not even wearing any make up and your skin is so clear and smooth!"

"Plus, those new hipster glasses look totally cute," Lovina smiled. "Brings out your eyes and the natural thickness of your eye lashes."

I chuckled, blushing at the compliments – those two had a habit of trying to build up my self-esteem whenever I unintentionally brought myself down in my pit of self-deprecation. "Just go get into position whilst I start the camera," I smiled, waving them off as I went over and turned the camera on. Standing back, I waited for a few seconds before grinning and waving. "Hey, guys! It's me, Amie! I know you guys have been requesting this stuff for a while and they have worked super hard to give you what you want. So without further ado, please enjoy the latest creations by Feliciana and Lovina Vargas!"

Filming everything took an hour and a half – that included long shots, close ups and clothes changes. Then there was the additional recording of the commentaries for the twins to explain their pieces with me – they sat and watched me start to edit the video together, adding filters to make every look pretty and professional; they gave me suggestions as to what text I should use and any other visual element that I just couldn't seem to pick by myself.

However, when it came to about 2:30 in the afternoon, a knocking sounded on my apartment door causing the 3 of us to jump. We weren't expecting anyone to be visiting me – Antonio was at work, as was Ludwig. And my parents never came to visit me – they had never even stepped foot in my apartment since the day I had moved out. I always had to go and visit them or I would have no contact…

Getting up from where my PC was set up, I went over to the door and opened it cautiously; blinking in surprise, I saw Alfred stood outside the door looking far from happy.

"What's going on with you and Arthur Kirkland?" he demanded, pushing past me into the apartment without my permission. Lovina and Feliciana stood up when he stormed in, looking at me nervously before gathering their stuff and leaving to let me deal with my agitated brother.

"Al, what do you mean?" I asked, making him sit down on my sofa to try and get him to calm down. "I don't know what you mean!"

"I had lunch with the guys today," Alfred said, looking at me as though analysing my every movement, the slight twitches of my cheeks as I tried to stop myself from chucking him out of my apartment. "Arthur said he and you had a nice chat in the park last night. Called you pretty and said you two got on real well. So, what happened?"

"Oh jeez," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Nothing happened, you fucktard! He was drunk on a swing as I was walking home, I stopped to see if he was okay, he was so I left."

"Is that all?"

"Yes!"

Alfred nodded and stood up, running his fingers through his hair before looking at me apologetically. "Sorry, Ames," he said. "I was just worried he done something…"

"You need to chill out," I said, standing up and walking with him as he headed for the apartment door. I opened it for him and watched as he walked out. "I'm fine, nothing's happened, so just stop."

With a sigh, I shut the door after him and sat down at my computer again – finishing off all my editing and sending the video to export. As soon as it was done, I loaded YouTube and started to upload it; taking my camera to the other area again and setting it up.

I felt it was time for another vlog…

"Hey, guys…" I said, rubbing my head. "So, as you will have seen, I uploaded a video not too long ago of a fashion shoot with my friends as you asked, and I was in a pretty good mood then. But it's funny how only now 2 hours since filming all that, my mood can switch up…

"I know he's going to be watching, but I need to get this out there – please, Alfred, I love you but you're taking this older brother thing to seriously. Don't come barging in here like you did again or I will have to hurt you." I smiled to let him know I was joking, should he be watching, and chuckled. "It's funny how talking to a camera makes me feel better… Shame there's not many people who could replace it… It must be nice being popular…"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

One week had passed, and I had seen nothing of Arthur to be able to confront him about what he had said to my brother. It wasn't too bad in the moral sense of things, it was just the fact that he had talked to my brother about me in such a way – not only was it a little creepy, it was downright rude.

I was behind the bar again, pulling pints for more rowdy customers – the owner had asked me to take the earlier shift that day, so I was currently in on the lunchtime shift with Gilbert trying to understand why these people were drink beer, wine and vodka at lunch time when they should have been at work earning money.

I drank on the odd occasion – one of my videos was actually a drink roulette game with me, the twins and my cousin Maddy. That ended with a hangover the next day, but it was totally worth it.

"So, you're a Leo, huh?" said one man, leaning on the bar and smiling at me suggestively. "They're meant to be fiery, aren't they? Loud and passionate."

"I will show you loud if you don't leave me alone," I said, setting down the glass I had been cleaning and giving him a very serious look. He blinked and shrugged, skulking away as I heard Gilbert snigger behind me. I turned and looked up at him – he had been seeing my cousin for about a month, since her last visit, but that still didn't change what a dick he could be sometimes; it just meant that I wasn't allowed to give him a smack anymore.

"You and guys huh," he smirked, leaning round me. "Alfred's been talking about your admirer. Now this guy. What is it with you?"

"Oh, fuck off, Gil," I sighed, elbowing him in the ribs and making my escape to the other end of the bar. However, I got a surprise as I saw who was sat on a stool eating a packet of ready salted crisps and drinking a pint of orange juice. "Arthur?"

Looking up at me, he smiled awkwardly and sipped his drink to help the crisps go down a little quicker, watching me as I walked over to him and folded my arms. "Hello, uh, Amelia…"

"Why did you say those things to my brother?" I asked him, getting straight to the point. He closed his eyes for a moment – it seemed he had known that I would want to talk about that but had been hoping I wouldn't. "Well?"

"He was getting on my nerves going on about girls he had been with and how pretty they all were," he sighed, looking up at me honestly. "I was just trying to remind him that he had someone like you in his life and that he shouldn't treat girls like objects. I was just trying to prove a point."

"Well, it worked, because he burst into my apartment and freaked my friends out after your little chat!" I said, frowning at him.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said, giving me a truly apologetic expression. I sighed and nodded my head. "I promise, I won't do it again. He just annoyed me so much."

"I've had to live with it for nearly 20 years," I said, rolling my eyes and leaning on the support beam behind me. "I know exactly what he is like. Did he tell you about the Japense girl at Prom?"

"Oh yes, he went into some detail about that poor girl," Arthur muttered, downing the rest of his drink and playing with the now empty glass. "The poor girl never stood a chance as far as I could tell. Both drunk… Surprised they never had a kid the way Alfred talked about it."

"That was my first thought when he told me the day after!" I said, smiling at the prospect of someone thinking similarly to me. "I wasn't quite ready to be an aunt just yet so when he told me about the protection it was just a relief."

"Can you imagine him as a dad?" Arthur chuckled. "I don't doubt he'd be pretty good, but after an hour in his care those kids would be bouncing off the wall!"

"I know right!"

We laughed, everything seeming so calm and natural – like we had known each other for longer than just a week, like we had been talking for years and knew each other. I smiled at him, watching as he smiled back and checked the time on his watch.

"Well… lunch is over," he sighed. "Back to the den of vulgarity."

"Sounds about right," I chuckled.

Arthur chuckled too, smiling at me. "Will we get to see each other again?" he asked. "Soon? You seem… really nice."

I blushed a little, nodding. "Sure," I smiled. "We can see each other again real soon."

_**Notes:**_

***gasp* Over protective Alfie? Disobedient little sister Amie? Where oh where do you think this is going?**

**Props to anyone who knows the song I am working the plot along!**

**See you next chapter!**


	3. Leave Your Secrets With Me

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter Three**

**Leave Your Secrets With Me**

Keeping my friendship with Arthur a secret from Alfred was harder work than I had originally anticipated. Every Friday they would come to the pub as a large group at the end of their shifts at Global Media – laughing and joking in the same ways as when I had first seen Arthur.

He would glance over to me from across the room as they sat down at a table, a light smile forming on his face as he found me at the bar – and if Alfred wasn't looking he would wink. The blush that would follow was becoming common ground now – a reaction that I just couldn't help anymore. I know that I sound like a broken record, but I really had no idea why he made me feel that way. Just his smile was enough to bring one to my face and though I was learning just how lonely he really was, he just had a cheeky charm to him that just made me like him even more.

This went on for a month. One whole month of smiles, winks, blushes and secrets from Alfred. I won't lie – it hurt me to be keeping secrets from him, especially as I was starting to grow so attached to one of his friends. But I knew from how he had barged into my apartment that day back in August that he would probably be far from happy if ever found out that Arthur was spending so much time with me. Twins though we may be, he was still older than me by 15 minutes, and he never let me forget it. He was my big brother even though we were the same age and though he was annoying and loud and rash, he was still kind and brave and smart. I was scared for my relationship with my brother, but I was also scared for Arthur's health if Alfred ever got hold of him like that…

Alfred was incredibly strong – more so than I was obviously, but he was actually stronger than our Dad too. You could see from one glance that he was a power house – Lovina often made comments to make Antonio jealous that she loved it when Alfred came in to the pub but 'it was a shame there was a no-shirt-no-service policy'. He regularly worked out, and – despite his incessant diet of fast food – he knew exactly how to hurt someone if they crossed him the wrong way.

Luckily they were starting to get distracted from each other and me because their classes were starting up again – their apprenticeships meant that part of the time they would be getting work experience and payment, the other was spent in college getting training for the roles they would be getting at the end of the 3 years.

Thanks to this new found freedom that I was coming across (less hours at the pub due to less customers as summer was over), I had more time to film and produce more videos for my subscribers. I was able to start filling in more requests – like my shoe collection, make up tutorials, reviews on a book I had recently finished (_Anna Dressed In Blood_, freaky but pretty awesome), plus more little fashion shows with Lovina and Feliciana. My money was still coming in, I was growing in popularity online and I got to sit on the side-lines and watch as Arthur was surrounded by people and still seemed to just see me.

I often wondered just how different life would be if I had gotten that apprenticeship in that company instead of Alfred. Would Arthur pay me any attention at all? Would Alfred still be as protective over me or was this all because he thought he knew Arthur better than me? I have to say that I am happy that things went the way they did – I mean, sure I was jealous of Alfred for getting the apprenticeship when I couldn't but I wouldn't be doing what I really loved.

He couldn't say that he had been offered a fully paid trip to New York for Fashion Week could he? He couldn't say he'd been given a YouTube partnership. I was doing just what I enjoyed doing – talking to people, being creative with clothes and computers and getting chances that would keep me on my feet for a very long time.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

My alarm clock started screeching horribly one morning in mid-September. I really didn't know why I had set it for so early (or at all if I'm honest), but I had and now that I was awake there was really no chance of me getting back to sleep again. Hauling myself out of bed, I yawned and stretched; scratching my fingers through my hair as I made my way to the bathroom to have a shower.

I remembered why I needed to get up so early on a day off as soon as I tripped over the few big bags of clothes that I had left out in the hallway and landed awkwardly on the floor. Groaning, I sat up and looked at the bags – sighing as I pulled myself up onto my feet again and went into the bathroom. I was planning to make two videos that day – a retail haul and a basic vlog.

One of the perks of my position was that I got a fair few vouchers for many high street stores to help further my consumerism and of course it gave them some free advertisement whenever I shared what I had got and where.

Of course, sometimes my reviews weren't that great – I got a pair of shoes one time that were so awful I had to be blunt and tell people not to buy them. Needless to say they weren't happy but they did tweak the designs to make them more comfortable and durable for the price.

After I had showered and got my clothes, hair and make-up sorted, I went to the kitchen and made myself some breakfast and orange juice before going to set up my camera in the first area I wanted to make a video. I tried to keep my videos as varied in locations as I could – one time I could be in my bedroom, the next the living room, and one time I went out on the balcony.

I got the bags that I would be going through and picked out the clothes that I would be showing off to make sure I had the right stuff – I had already filmed little snippets of me wearing the clothes and close-ups, I just needed the actual haul video…

Filming never really took up too much of my time – it was actually the easiest part of the whole ordeal. The editing of the videos was the bit that made me want to pull my hair out. I sat in front of the computer and started to lay out all the videos as I wanted them – cutting out bits that could be put into a bloopers section near the end, random bits that just didn't need broadcasting and created the usual YouTube jump cuts as I went along with my really large haul.

I was being very clever with my editing this time though – I made the close-ups and modelling clips com in smaller at the side and had tags for the prices of each item, which was the first time that I had really ever done anything quite as visually impressive as that. Whilst I let the video render in HD once more, I went off to the kitchen to make myself some lunch – I had been filming and editing for a good part of the morning, which just showed my dedication to this project. It also proved just how lonely I was really – I mean, I could have been going outside and spending time with friends or doing really great things outdoors but no. There I was sat in front of camera and a computer talking about things that I had bought all by myself.

I hated being by myself but it beat where I had been before… I never regretted leaving that house and the rows of my mother and father once. In fact, I was glad that I had done it – I didn't have them breathing down my neck telling me that I was going to fail anymore and being away from them actually helped my confidence to boost.

I looked around as a beeping sounded on my computer, the indicator that the video had finished rendering. I smiled, saving the project one final time before loading my account and beginning the upload. 17 minutes at 720p HD… It was going to take forever and with my Internet connection…

Well, let's just say I was glad to have the vlog to keep me preoccupied.

I moved the camera into the living room again, sitting down on the sofa and turning it on – getting into position and psyching myself until I felt natural, like I was talking to a human being rather than a camera lens.

"Hey guys," I smiled, waving and winking at the camera. "Just little ol' me again with another waste of our time. I just wanted to talk about some updates and random stuff that's been going on around here.

"Well, firstly – you'll soon have some more chances to get hold of some trinkets and clothes from the Vargas Sisters soon! They've let me see some of the designs they've been working on to go on their online store and we will be modelling them for you soon!

"I got a new guitar too! I've been practicing in my spare time again, so possibly you could get a video of me singing and playing… Maybe… That's debatable cos I'm really not that good. Anyways, I…" Blinking, I looked round when I heard my doorbell ring – I wasn't expecting anyone to be coming round. Forgetting my camera and the fact that you could see my front door clearly from where I had set it up, I walked over to it and opened it – grinning as I saw Arthur stood outside with a small grin on his face.

"Arthur," I smiled. "How… What are you doing here?"

"We got given a half day today," he shrugged, smiling more. "The other guys decided to go to the pub but I didn't feel like going there."

"So, you decided to come here instead?" I chuckled. I saw him look passed me curiously, turning to follow his gaze and remembering my camera. "Oh… Uh… I was kinda…"

"Filming another video?" he asked. I nodded – I had told him all about my videos on one of the afternoons we had secretly hung out and much to my surprise he actually went off and watched all of them…

"I'll turn it off," I said, making my way over to the camera. He shook his head and followed me inside, shutting the door after him and moving up behind me.

"It's okay," he smiled. "It'd be cool to be in one of your videos."

I looked up at him and smiled, quickly changing the view of the camera and sitting down on the sofa with Arthur. He ran his fingers through his hair consciously, glancing between me and the camera.

"Well, guys," I smiled. "We have a surprise visitor today. Um, this new guy here is my good friend Arthur Kirkland. He works with my brother Alfred at Global Media doing all those wonderful graphics."

"Hello," he chuckled, waving a little at the camera. But then he blinked in realisation. "Alfred…"

"Never mind him," I said, looking at him. "He can't dictate who I'm friends with."

Thinking for a moment, Arthur nodded and grinned at the camera. "I guess that's true," he said. "So, I've known Amie here since August – I know it's not that long but she really is an amazing friend. I can tell why all those people are subscribed to you."

I blushed and rubbed the side of my neck, smiling down at my lap and chuckling as he grinned at me charmingly – I was getting far too flustered for a YouTube video and needed to end it. "Okay, this is where I end this recording," I said, smiling and turning it off before there could be any protests. "You are pushing your luck," I added, laughing as Arthur pulled me back down onto the sofa closer to him. "Really pushing it!"

"Maybe a little bit," he laughed, tickling me a little. I squeaked and managed to get away from him, shaking my head and smiling fondly as I took the camera over to my computer to work on editing that video. He followed me and watched as I did my work – tilting his head every so often as he tried to keep up with all my typing, clicking and cutting. As this video was so much shorter than the other one, the rending didn't take that much time so I soon had it uploading too – but scheduled so it wouldn't be published before my fashion video.

With Arthur following me again, I made my way back to the sofa to get comfortable again, looking at him as he flopped down too. Arthur looked at me carefully, unsure what to do now that that moment of fun was over with. He looked down, hands twisting against each other as he thought hard.

"I'm not as happy as I make out…" he muttered, taking me off guard for a moment. I had no idea where this was coming from so just stayed quite to listen. "I… I don't really want to say why just yet… but… I have really bad depression… I put on a smile around the guys because I don't want to ruin their fun… but the only person that's been able to make me genuinely happy recently has been you…"

"You don't have to me anything you don't feel comfortable with," I said, tentatively holding his hand. He gave mine a squeeze and nodded. "I'm glad I make you happy though. I'd be a pretty lousy person if I didn't."

"I don't believe you could ever be lousy," he said, smiling a little.

"My parents think I am…" I sighed, leaning my head on the back of the sofa. He looked at me curiously. "They wanted me to go to university, get the whole white picket fence family thing… They argue so much though… I really disappointed them going into this… YouTube, the pub… I'm just a big failure in their eyes."

"I doubt that," he said. "Have you tried talking to them?"

"They only talk to Alfred…" I sighed. "I don't care though… They argue so much they hardly ever get in contact with me… I try talking to them from time to time, even went over to them in a store… Fat lot of good it did…"

He looked at me sadly and put his hand on my arm. "Keep trying," he said. "No matter what, they're your parents. You can make them understand…"

"That's just the thing," I said, glancing at him. "They don't want to…"

He stayed for another hour before making his leave. I didn't mind, it had been nice having the company for once and that night I went to bed with a smile on my face – no thoughts of that video even coming to mind.

_**Notes:**_

**I went back to college this week.**

**That's my excuse.**

**Anyways! The song is Homeless Heart by Jennette McCurdy! It's pretty sweet.**

**See ya soon! **


	4. Walls Around You

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter Four**

**Walls Around You**

So, uploading the video to YouTube really wasn't the smartest idea either of us had ever come up with… I had never seen Alfred look at me so angrily before. Even when we were little kids and I accidentally broke his favourite action figure…

A few hours after the video had been posted and Arthur had gone back to his own home, I was lounging around in my living room in my pyjamas – it was starting to get dark outside and I wasn't going out anywhere so saw no point in staying properly dressed.

I was watching an old episode of _Friends_ on Comedy Central – the one where Chandler's dad is singing at the gay bar – and laughing till my ribs hurt in peace. But that's when the pounding started on my front door. I blinked in surprise; I wasn't expecting any visitors at that time of night.

Cautiously, I wandered over to the door as the pounding got more intense – I was afraid, but I wasn't going to let this person intimidate me. Making sure that my baseball bat was nearby, I looked through the peep hole to see if I could identify the person assaulting my door and blinked when I saw Alfred's angry face as he continued to bang his fist against the wood.

"Hey! Hey!" I shouted, banging back. He stopped. "I'm opening the door, jeez!"

As soon as I started opening the door, I had to step away as he sent it flying open with such a force that I was nearly knocked off of my feet. Startled and a little scared, I shut the door after him as he stormed into my living room – he had something on his mind, something that was frustrating him but also causing him a lot of trouble phrasing what he wanted to say right.

"Are you seeing Arthur?" he blurted out after a while. I blinked at him in surprise, walking over to him with my arms folded under my chest.

"Seeing Arthur?" I repeated, looking at him exasperatedly. "No. Alfred. I'm not seeing Arthur. And even if I was, you have no right to barge in here the way you just did!"

"What was that video about then?" grilled Alfred, staring at me intensely. It was unnerving seeing my older brother in such a state – he had never really looked at me in such a way. It was almost as if he was afraid of losing me or something, but that would never be the case – I would always be in the background of whatever achievements he would be creating, whether it be a new graphic at Global Media or actually finding the right girl to settle down with and be happy. I knew the second point wouldn't be for a long time but I could hope to be an aunt in the proper way couldn't I?

I moved over to him and put my hand gently on his arm, watching as it tensed at my touch then relaxed as he remembered that it was still me, still Amie, his little sister. I smiled at him a little and tilted my head.

"Alfie," I said gently. "That video meant nothing. You've been in plenty of my videos. So have the Vargas sisters. Hell, even Gilbert's been in a couple. You remember how slaughtered I got him when I got him to review alcohol for me. That was just another friend being in a video with me."

"But you said 'Alfred can't dictate who I'm friends with'," he said, looking down at me. "Why did you say that?"

"Because I knew that you would go like this if I said outright 'oh, by the way, bro! I'm friends with your workmate! He comes round to see me from time to time and likes to spend time with me outside of the pub!'" I countered, looking at him as if to say _just try and deny it_.

Rolling his eyes, he looked away from me for a moment – turning his body away and walking over by my computer. "You've hung out more than once then?"

"Yeah, Alfred," I said. "We have, because he is my friend and he is nice to me."

"You don't know him though," Alfred said, turning on me again. He walked back over to me almost threateningly, looming over me and casting a shadow. I backed up slightly, genuinely afraid of my brother for once. "You have no idea what he's like!"

"And do you?!" I argued. "Do you really know what he's like or just the façade that he put up in front of you guys! Because he has actually talked to me, Alfred. Really talked to me! He told me about how he felt every day, how he puts on a smile around you guys so that he doesn't ruin your fun! Do you ever take into consideration how he might be feeling beneath the smile or is that all you see?"

"I don't want you seeing him anymore, Amelia," Alfred said, stepping back and looking at me darkly. I stared at him in disbelief – I knew that he would react like this, but somehow I didn't really think that he would actually tell me that I couldn't see him anymore.

"You can't tell me what to do, Alfred," I said, shaking my head. "You're not Dad."

"I can get him to stop you from seeing him then," Alfred continued, his tone like that of a petulant child who wasn't getting their own way.

"Alfred, I am nearly 20 years old, I live by myself, have two jobs and good friends," I snapped. "You are not in charge of who I see and what I do! So, if you don't like that I am friends with Arthur Kirkland then you'll just have to lump it if you want me to continue being in your life! Don't make me chose between you because that's not fair. I have to have people in my life that are my choice. Arthur is one of those choices."

With a heavy sigh, Alfred nodded his head and gently pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry, Amie," he muttered, holding me close. I closed my eyes and hugged him back, resting my head on his chest. "I just don't want you to get hurt anything… I know there are some dicks out there and… God, I know that I fucked up with Sakura… and I don't want that happening to you…"

"It won't happen to me, Alfred," I smiled. "I'm way too careful."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Two weeks later, in mid-September, Alfred was still being overly protective towards me – every time that I was working in the pub when he and the others went inside, he would sit at the end of the table instead of Arthur, blocking his view of me and stopping him from coming over and buying a round.

Even when my shift would finish, he would make sure that Arthur and I never had the chance to see each other.

It got so intense that one day he actually made arrangements for the pair of us to go visit Mom and Dad at their house on the outskirts of the city. We had to take the bus in the morning to get near enough to their house – seeing as neither of us had a car. I was starting to get tired of how Alfred was treating me – like a child who didn't know any better rather than a 19 year old adult.

He pressed the button to signal that we wanted to get off of the bus, then got up and walked to the front of the vehicle with me and waited until the bus came to a complete stop. Walking along the pavements, I felt a little nostalgic as I looked around the old streets of where I used to live – it was weird going back there after such a long time but I guess that I had to do it at some point.

After Mom and Dad shut the door on me last year, I promised myself that I wouldn't go crawling back to them for anything. They had showed so little faith in me over the years that it was hard finding confidence to be able to do the simplest task even when I knew that I was more than capable of doing so. They had just shattered me when they were supposed to build me like they had done with Alfred.

I blinked as I had to come to a halt behind Alfred, stepping beside him as he rang the doorbell of our old home and watching as the silhouette of my father came ever closer to the front door.

He was the same as he was back then – tall, balding but brunette, and the same blue eyes as Alfred and I. He smiled at Alfred and then looked at me, his smile shrinking slightly but his eyes still twinkling with an enough that I couldn't quite place.

"Al, Amelia," he said, stepping aside and letting us inside. "You made it…"

"Course we made it, Dad!" Alfred grinned, walking through the living room. "Where's Mom?"

"About that…" Dad muttered, following me into the living room. I sat down beside Alfred with a quizzical expression on my face, one that matched Alfred's as we watched out father sit down away from us. "I… I'm here on my own now…"

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"The arguments… They… We… Your mother started having an affair…" Dad said, leaning his head in his hand as he sat slumped in his armchair. "She's been sleeping with another man for months… 6 months after you left home, Amelia… The arguments were getting worse and it came out. She walked out and went to live with him… 2 weeks ago…"

"You can't be serious…" Alfred said numbly, glancing at me then back at Dad. I couldn't believe it either, but from how Dad was sitting in his seat… He looked so defeated and betrayed…

"Daddy…" I muttered, getting up from my seat and heading over to him. He blinked and then hugged me tightly, his eyes squeezing shut.

"I'm so sorry, Baby…" he murmured. "I've been a pretty crappy dad to you, huh… I'm so sorry… I heard about your videos and watched a few of them… You're good, Baby… I'm proud of you and I know I should have said this sooner but I have always been proud of you. Of both of you…"

I hugged Dad tighter, nodding my head and blinking slightly to fight back the tears that were trying to make their way out of my eyes. I knew that he was being sincere, I could tell that this whole event with Mom had truly broken him as a man – he knew that he had done wrong by me and was trying to make it right again so that he didn't lose anyone else.

I pitied him.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

I made my home alone a couple of house later. I needed to get away from anything to do with my family for a while – Alfred protested against this for a time, but I managed to get away from him before he could do anything about it.

The bus was packed when I got onto it, so I had to stand near the front and holding onto the bars as we sped back into the city centre. I had to keep an eye on everything going on outside to make sure that I got off at the right stop or I might have ended up on the wrong side of the river.

Walking through the park back to my apartment, I kept my eyes on my feet the entire time – I was still in shock from what Dad had told us… I just couldn't see Mom having an affair, but as I remembered how unhappy she was around Dad it wasn't really that much of a surprise. But still, this was something that happened to other people… Moms and dads were meant to stay just that… Married, happy, a team bringing up their children in a happy environment… a family… But, I guess we never have really been a family before.

I got my key out of my pocket as I got closer to the building, but blinked as I saw Arthur sat on the front steps waiting for me outside. He looked over at me and smiled a little as I got closer, getting to his feet and meeting me half way.

"Hey," he said. "Your bodyguard not around then?"

"Alfred isn't my bodyguard, he's just an overprotective idiot," I responded, walking up the stairs and inside. He followed me all the way up to my apartment and inside, watching me as I walked around in auto-pilot. It was only until I felt his arms closer around me that I realised that he had stopped me and pulled me close. The resolve I had built up broke in that moment, my hands fisting the back of his shirt and my face pressing into his chest as I started to cry. I felt his hands card through my hair gently, humming softly to try and calm me down.

Before I could say anything, he lifted me bridal style and carried me over to the sofa as I continued to sob; sitting down with me on his lap so that he could cradle me. Slowly, I sniffed to an end and calmed myself down.

"Okay?" he asked. I nodded. "What's got you so upset?"

And so I told him – I told him how Alfred had been acting, how my father was so broken, my mother's affair and abandonment… He stayed quiet throughout, listening to me and letting me get it all off of my chest until I felt marginally better.

"It'll get better," he said. "I promise."

"How do you know that…?" I asked, looking up at him.

"My parents died in a car crash when I was 17," Arthur explained, looking at me sadly. "They left behind myself, my younger brother Peter, and my older siblings Scott, Bryn, Ryan and Aednat. Each other them lived in a different part of the country… Bryn took Peter to live with him cos he was only 9 at the time, and I haven't seen any of them since. They don't want anything to do with me. That's why I'm so depressed… I'm all alone, but I do know things will get better. They started getting better as soon as I met you."

I blinked at his honesty, looking up into his eyes and seeing the sadness of his tale swirling in amongst the green. He looked back at me and smiled a little, wiping the tears away from my eyes.

"I don't care what your brother says," he said. "You mean a lot to me now and I don't like seeing you sad. So, I promise, I'll stick by you even when it gets tough. Especially when it gets tough."

"You mean that?" I asked, leaning into his tough. He nodded. "I promise too. No one deserves what happened to you… I won't let you be lonely anymore…"

Chuckling lightly, he pressed a casual kiss to me lips – blinking as he realised what he had done, he looked down at me with wide eyes and red cheeks. I looked back at him the same, but pulled him back to kiss him again. Before we could stop it, we kissed again and again; one kiss turning into another effortlessly, my arms wrapping around his neck and his arms looping around my waist.

_**Notes:**_

**And I shall leave you with that!**

**I'll leave you to think about what will happen next from how I left it!**

**Laters!**


	5. Running in the Wrong Direction

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter Five**

**Running in the Wrong Direction**

We fell onto my bed, our lips connected still as I straddled him and leant down – my hair falling over both of our faces. Arthur's fingers reached up and tangled into my blonde locks, tugging gently as his other hand made its way onto the skin of my back and smoothed up my spine. I had never done anything like this before – this was totally against what I was like, but something about Arthur had awoken something inside me and I wasn't going to send it away.

I had longed for someone like this for a long time, for someone to finally love me and hold me and do things to me that would make me wanton for more. It seemed the same could be said for Arthur as he parted from my lips and started to kiss along my jaw and down my neck.

I hummed softly and leant down further, pushing my hair to the side to give him clear access to the skin of my neck. Arthur's teeth lightly dragged against my pulse point causing my breath to hitch in my throat and a soft keening sound to escape my lips. I didn't want this to stop whatever this was, and even though this went against all that I had told myself I just couldn't bring myself to care. It felt good to have his hands in my hair and his mouth on my neck, it felt like we were meant to be doing this and it made me question why we hadn't done so before…

Gently, Arthur rolled us so that he was on top of me – the angle of which we turned meaning that he was leaning between my legs already. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he leant down and kissed him once again – he was breathing deeply through his nose, the kiss starting to get more and more intense.

But then he pulled back.

My breathing was deep, but I looked up at him and smiled as he shook his head and smiled down at me.

"We… we should stop…" he said. "I don't want to give you the wrong idea or anything! I mean! Uh! I would really like this to carry on, but…"

"I get it, Arthur," I smiled, shifting with him so I could sit up. Pressing a soft kiss to his lips, I let one hand rest against his cheek and smiled up at him softly. "I'm not the kind of girl that just sleeps with someone as soon as they kiss me… I'll be honest… I've never actually slept with _anyone_ before…"

"We were getting a little carried away," Arthur chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. He smiled at me warmly, turning his head just slightly so he could kiss my wrist. "I'll be honest too – I have slept with more than one person before now, but… you're too special to just jump right on in. We could have something good here… I don't know about you, but if we were to give this a go…"

"I'd like that," I said, hoping that my tone was reassuring. It seemed to work as Arthur's smile grew slightly larger. I knew that this was probably a big thing for both of us – we had both been in the shadows of other people and thinking back on what Arthur had told me about his siblings and how easily they had abandoned him after their parents' deaths I knew that he probably needed someone to be there for him more than he ever let on in front of his friends. I was happy to be the person he could run to in his hour of need – and I hoped that he felt the same for me, it certainly seemed so.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The only problem with now being in a relationship with Arthur was how many secrets I was now keeping from Alfred. I knew that he was starting to get suspicious – especially after an evening in the pub where he caught Arthur wink at me as he sat down after getting a round in. But it was still astonishing how much of an over-protective idiot he was being despite me telling him that it was my life and I was going to live it by my own rules and not his.

Things were starting to become much tenser between us the more Arthur came to be a permanent feature in my life. I was making sure that it didn't affect any other aspect of my life though – even when Alfred sent me texts about videos that Arthur had been in with me. It was my channel, it was my business. So what if Arthur had been in a video modelling some male clothes from Lovina and Feliciana's new line? So what if he had been in a video playing a video game with me? So what if he had sat in on a vlog again and laughed… put his arm around me… made me smile…?

I never wanted to fall out with Alfred, but for the first time in my life I was finally the centre of attention. I loved my brother very much and I hated myself for thinking it, but everyone always loved him more. I was seen as the thing that never should have happened, I was the let-down, the failure, the one who would never amount to anything.

But I was amounting to something! It may not have been conventional! It may not have been exactly what my parents had wanted for my future! But it was mine and it had led me down a path that was opening so many other doors to me.

Alfred had his life. He had his friends and his relationships. I never commented on the fact he had a different girl every other month so why should he be so bothered that I had become closer to Arthur? Arthur was more of a gentleman than he was… He could have kept going, he could have slept with me the day when we had stumbled into my bedroom… Hell, he could have been a pig and tried it on with me the day we first met. I mean, we had been alone in the park in the middle of the night, he had been blind drunk and yet all he said was 'you're certainly prettier than your brother'.

Everything was just getting worse and worse with Alfred's mood for the following two months that passed, and by the time November came anything to do with Arthur he would scowl at.

I chose not to ever mention him whenever Alfred came round to my house.

Instead, I chose to focus on Arthur's 21st birthday. I couldn't take the day off of work no matter how much I wanted to but I had managed to switch shifts so that I only had to work in the morning until lunchtime. It was also a safer shift for me as Arthur's birthday was on the fifth of November meaning that there were going to be a lot of drunk people walking around with sparklers – there were going to be bonfires, fireworks, all of those things that I gotten used to since I had moved to the UK.

For those unaware, the fifth of November marked the memorial of the Gun Powder Plot in which a man called Guy Fawkes and a group of other people tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. They failed of course and he got executed. But now people made bonfires and stuck effigies of Guy Fawkes in the flames.

It was a pretty strange thing to watch but then again not a whole lot of things made sense in that country.

But yeah, it would have been pretty dangerous for me to have the night shift – they were chivalrously making sure the bar staff that evening was primarily male orientated just in case any trouble happened – Lovina had started to complain about sexism but she could be more scared of people than her sister on some days so she couldn't really complain.

So, after my shift ended that morning, Arthur came to meet me outside the pub and found me holding a big box all wrapped up neatly. I grinned at him as he came over, taking in his confused expression before handing him the box.

"Happy birthday!" I smiled, chuckling as he looked at me dumbfounded. "You didn't expect me to just sit around do nothing, did you?"

"I've not had a birthday present from anyone in a long while," Arthur replied, shaking the box a little bit near his ear to try and figure out what was inside. I kissed his cheek and looked up at him openly.

"Well, that's going to change from now on," I said. "You're kinda stuck with me now so that means presents and treats and just generally nice things. So you can stop being so grumpy and try to enjoy yourself because I want you to have a nice time for once and actually enjoy yourself. Not that façade you put up in front of the people you work with."

"You really mean that don't you…" Arthur said quietly, looking down at me. I nodded and tilted my head.

"Look, Arthur, I know you've had a pretty shitty time for a while… but not all the world is evil," I said. "Sure, there are some pretty horrible people out in the world and those that feel the need to make everyone else's life a misery but that doesn't mean that everyone else is. You may have been alone for a while but like I said, you have me now and there is nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure you keep a smile on your face. Now shut up and have a nice birthday cos you and I are going bowling!"

And with that I turned him around and started to lightly guide him in the right direction. He rolled his eyes a little as we went along, walking along the street with me as he carried his unopened present. Eventually we got to the bowling alley, got our shoes swapped to the ugly blue and red shoes we had to wear to play and went over to the lane I had booked. I was really happy when Arthur's eyes widened at the sight of the others inside waiting for us – Lovina and Feliciana were sat down with drinks already along with Antonio and Ludwig.

"Happy birthday," they said, smiling at him. Arthur was too surprised to speak.

"He would say thanks but I think that he's a little too surprised at the moment," I chuckled, sitting down in a seat and adjusting the Velcro of my shoes. "Don't be alarmed."

"We have cards!" Feliciana grinned, handing them to Arthur as he sat too.

"We'd have gotten presents but we didn't know what you liked…" Lovina explained.

"Maybe next year," Antonio smiled.

I pulled my camera out of my bag and started filming the event, everyone agreeing that I could make it into a video for my channel. There were some topics of conversation that I knew I would have to cut out of the video – mainly the ones that mentioned Alfred. They were only simple little things like 'why isn't Alfred here' or 'I take it Alfred won't be coming'. It wasn't that I didn't want him to be there, or more importantly that Arthur didn't want him to be there, it was just easier at that point in time.

There was nothing wrong with Alfred really… I wasn't complaining or being a bitch, I just wanted him to have enough time to calm himself down and get used to the idea of Arthur and I being friends before we dropped the bombshell that we had been dating for 2 months… I knew that when the time came for Alfred to hear that news that he would likely try to hunt Arthur down and kill him so I was kinda in between a rock and a hard place.

The good thing about the afternoon was Arthur loved my gift to him. I had got him a brand new graphic tablet for his apprenticeship – he had been saying about how his one was on its way out so you know...

"You didn't have to do that…" he said as he hugged me tightly.

"Sure I did," I smiled, hugging him back. "Don't be silly."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Arthur and I walked back to my apartment after we had all separated from the bowling. Ludwig had won 2 of the 3 games we had and I had won the last. I had fun with my filming for the most part, though on occasion I got distracted by Arthur smoothing my hand or putting his arm around me.

He had nothing to do after the games so I told him that he could come back to my place so he had some more company, and all the way back he had been holding my hand as well as carrying his present and cards.

I let us into the apartment and dumped my bag on the kitchen counter before going to the sofa and sitting down. I kicked my shoes off and glanced round at Arthur as he left his at the door, grinning as he flopped down beside me and put his arm around me. I got the remote and turned the TV on, flicking through the channels until I got to a movie and left it on.

We weren't really watching it though…

Arthur kissed my head so I looked up at him and kissed his cheek. That soon turned into a real kiss which began to grow more intense as we went on. I moved onto his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, Arthur's hand splaying against my back and moving under my shirt.

This was starting to become a habit between us – our make-out sessions… But for the first time in a while, things were starting to get just as intense as the day we got together. As his hands worked their way up my back, they started to push my shirt up – and I allowed it to get taken straight off of my body. I worked Arthur's off of him at the same time, pressing against him so we were flush together.

The kisses started to become slightly more desperate, my fingers threading into his hair as our mouths opened to brush our tongues against each other's. We had had the time to get to know each other now so there were no quells over our own issues. Soon his nimble fingers had worked on my bra strap and pulled the fabric away from my body leaving my chest bare before him for the first time – I was nervous, of course, but there was something right about it this time around.

I pulled back for air and stood, pulling him up from the sofa too. We soon started to work on each other's jeans, unzipping and pulling them off. They were discarded across my living room as we made our way to my bedroom, Arthur pressing me up against the door as soon as it was shut behind us. He rocked against me as we kissed again, gripping my hair and holding me against him as we moved backwards towards my bed. He fell backwards with me landing on top of him, both of us being brought out of our haze enough to let out laughs at our behaviour.

"Do you want this to continue?" he asked me, pressing kisses down my neck.

"I do," I replied, gasping as he palmed at my breast. He moved back and pulled his boxers off, allowing me to remove my knickers on my own as he ran back to the living room. "What are you doing?"

"I always keep a condom in my wallet!" he called back to me. He hurried back into the room, fumbling with the packet and putting the purple rubber onto himself before looking me over. "You're beautiful…"

I blushed. "Just get here," I smiled. He grinned and got back on top of me. I took a deep breath, bracing myself. But instead of what I was expecting, I suddenly felt two fingers enter me. I moaned slightly, feeling Arthur move them in and out of my body for a bit before pulling them away and lining up with me. I pressed my face to his neck as he pressed into me, gritting my teeth and moaning as he slowly filled me.

Everyone made sex sound so dramatic and a big deal, but this was my first time and it felt everything but how they had said. It was… normal. Arthur was gentle with me as he knew my 'status', but soon we got into a swing of things and found a pace that suited us both – we went hard and fast, moaning each other's names, kissing and making such unabashed noises.

We ended with cried of 'I love you' and fell asleep in each other's arms.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

I woke up naked and satisfied the next morning, Arthur's arms around me as his face nestled into the crook of my neck. I smiled softly and kissed his forehead, getting out of bed as I heard a knocking on my door.

I couldn't find anything and knew my living room would be littered with our clothes, so quickly ran out and grabbed them all to dump inside my room for the time being. I had already put on my knickers but had nothing else to put on quickly that would cover me other than Arthur's shirt.

Sighing a little, I threw it on and did up some of the buttons before heading over to the door as the knocking got louder. I looked through the spyhole and grimaced slightly, before opening the door a little and hiding behind it.

"Hey, Al…" I said, glancing round the door at him. "What're you doing here?"

"Don't you 'Hey, Al' me," he said, looking at me seriously. "I heard you and Arthur had a date." I blinked and stayed quiet. "Toris text me this morning saying he saw you all out at the bowling alley while he was out with his girlfriend yesterday. He said you and Arthur seemed pretty close. So you're gonna let me in and talk to me."

"Al… That's not…" I tried to explain, but he pushed past me into the house. He shut the door after him and looked at me, his eyebrows rising at the state I was in. "I can explain…"

"He's here. Isn't he?"

"Al…"

"Amie, where's your bathroom again, I can't remember," said Arthur. I looked round as he came out of my bedroom in only his boxers, rubbing his messy bedhead and none the wiser of my brother's presence until he looked up from the floor and saw us both. "Oh shit…"

"You mother fucker," Alfred growled, lunging at him before I could stop him. I shouted and rushed over as he floored Arthur in a single punch, but Arthur quickly got up and shoved him away, punching him just as hard.

"STOP IT!" I shouted, trying to break them apart as they started really fighting – Alfred trying to rip Arthur to shreds. "STOP!"

_**Notes:**_

**So I don't update this in ages and then pull that!**

**I'm sorry! **

**I'm not really sure what to say other than thanks for the support so far on this series and that I really apologise for the lack of updates… My bad…**


	6. House of Cards

**Homeless Hearts**

**Chapter Six**

**House of Cards**

They were punching and kicking at each other so brutally they ended up on the floor. Alfred had managed to pin Arthur down, punching his face violently as Arthur started to knee him in the stomach. I ran over to them and tugged on Alfred's arm hard, taking him by surprise enough to actually pull him off of Arthur.

Shoving him away, I glared at him, my hands balled into fists. I was furious with the pair of them – but mainly my brother. I knew why he had done it but it was still disgusting what he had done in _my apartment_.

"Get out of my way, Amie," he threated, starting to walk back towards Arthur darkly. Arthur sat up on the floor, holding his nose. I glanced over my shoulder slightly at him, seeing the blood pouring down his face – his nose had definitely broken from the force of Alfred's blows and his right eye was already swelling and blackening. I looked up at my brother and shook my head, standing my ground to show him that I was serious.

"No, Alfred," I said firmly. "You're going to sit down and calm the fuck down. Then you are going to listen to what I have to say."

"But-"

"You don't have the right to demand any different," I snapped. "You forced your way into my home then beat the shit out of my boyfriend," he darkened at the word, "GROW THE FUCK UP, ALFRED! GO SIT ON THE DAMN COUCH AND DON'T MAKE ME ANY ANGRIER."

"Fine…" he said shortly, moving over to the other side of the room and sitting down on the sofa. I watched him go, taking in the bruises over his arms and finally the puffiness of his cheek and the blood slipping from his mouth where his lip had split. Sighing softly, I turned back to Arthur and helped him up to his feet. I walked him over to the kitchen and got him over to the sink to quickly wash away the blood from his nose, hands and chest – making sure at the same time his nose wasn't crooked or had any other signs of breakage.

"It's not broken," Arthur said quietly, using tissue to help start ceasing the bleeding.

"You go sit down on the other seat and wait for me okay…" I replied, moving over to the freezer to collect my ice pack. Arthur nodded reluctantly and moved over to the living room, avoiding Alfred as much as possible. I took that moment alone to collect myself before following him inside and handing Alfred the icepack to help his face. I sat down between them, ready to break them apart if they were to start fighting again.

Alfred mumbled his thanks and started to hold the pack against the swollen parts of his face, shooting Arthur dark looks from across the room. Rolling his eyes, Arthur focused on his nose – I, on the other hand, shifted to sit on the coffee table which was between the two seats to look at my brother directly.

"What the fuck made you think you had the right to do that?" I asked him quietly, keeping my tone calm yet threatening at the same time.

"He's no good for you," Alfred replied, avoiding eye contact. "You lied to me, Amie! You said you weren't together! I was trying to protect you, damn it!"

"Alfred, if you hadn't noticed, in the past few months, I have been happier than I have ever been in my entire life so far," I said, knowing that he was ready to hear some home truths. "Do you even realise how lonely my life has been up until recently?"

He looked stumped. "What do you mean?"

"All through school, since we moved to this country, I was that fat little American girl that nobody wanted to be around," I said. "I never made friends easily – no one wanted to be friends with the fat girl, and no guy wanted to go near the fat girl. I stuck to my imaginary worlds in books and games and tried to ignore every comment that got thrown to me… 'You're so fat', 'you're never going to amount to anything', 'nerd. Look at those glasses', 'who'd ever want to fuck that', 'get your head out of the clouds and start trying to do something productive with your life'… 'Oh, that's… You know that reminds me of something Alfred made the other day. Doesn't that boy have talent. Why can't you be more like him?'

"Mom and Dad… They never saw anything good in me. I tried and tried and tried to make them show me some sort of affection, to do something to make them proud but nothing I did ever made any difference… You always did it better in their eyes… When we got our grades back for our final exams at school, I got straight A*s… You got one, another lower A, Bs and Cs… I worked my ass off and yet all that was said was how well Alfred had done, how wonderful Alfred's future was going to be…

"Didn't you ever wonder why I never wanted to go to prom? Why my friends were nowhere to be seen anymore? They had all ditched me when the prom date was announced. They had been nice to the fat girl for the time being, but when it came to a social event that was it. No guy wanted to take me as his date. My own brother wanted to go with someone else – and let's face it, your date wasn't keen on me at all. I spent that evening watching the Harry Potter premier and finding ways to make me slimmer… I hated myself. Every fucking time I looked in the mirror I hated who I saw… Everyone around me had made me feel like I had no meaning… But as much as I wanted to just go to the bathroom and end it all, I decided that I would try to do something with my life! I made the change for college! I lost the weight, I changed my style, I found things that were making me happy so I could block out every fucking thing that was being thrown at me! But of course, the day after prom night you come back and say how you'd ended up drunk and had sex with Sakura. It surprised me and knocked me. It was just another blow to say 'HA LOOK WHAT YOUR BROTHER CAN DO THAT YOU CAN'T!'…

"When I got that YouTube partnership, I finally felt as though I had found something that was mine. That was the turning point in my life! I left home, I got that job at the pub, I had a job with YouTube – I could finally separate my worlds… I was no longer Amelia-Jones-Fat-Lonely-American, I was Amelia-Jones-YouTube-Partner-Helping-Those-Who-Wer e-Like-Her! I told my stories on there in obscure ways to help those poor bastards who were in the same position I had been in! And for the first time I had friends! I have friends across the globe that I talk to and share tips with and get sent and send packages to! I have Lovina and Feliciana, Ludwig, Antonio, Gilbert… I had my own set of friends who accepted me for me finally!

"I still had you too… I had you and I could hear about all the apprenticeship I had applied for but got rejected from… I could hear how it was the right path for you and wouldn't have been for me. We had our own lives and I finally felt like I had gotten an equal footing with you in other people's eyes… And then I met Arthur…

"You can glare all you want, but there is so much more to Arthur than you think. He puts on a show in front of you guys… What has he told you about his life?"

"He's said he's slept with too many girls than he can count," Alfred replied, continuing his glare at Arthur.

"And what does that matter?" I replied. "I'm sure you've said the same – I mean, if you can be blunt about sleeping with people in front of me, then with friends…" Alfred looked down for a moment. "I don't care if he's slept with hundreds of women. As long as he's not doing it with them whilst he's with me."

"2 women," Arthur said quietly. "Not including you."

"See," I said.

"BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW HE'S TELLING YOU THE TRUTH?!"

"I know that he's telling me the truth because he has been different with me than he has ever been with you guys," I said. "When I see Arthur in the pub, he's loud and funny and false. When he's with me, he's quiet, funny and honest. I've not had the best experience with guys – those ones that have asked me out recently, the perverts that just ogle… Arthur was different. He was sat in that swing in the park drunk and alone… You guys had left him all by himself but still he smiled at me… He called me pretty… Well, at least prettier than you… And just continued to swing and told me to go home before someone hurt tried to hurt me… cos he was in no state to protect me…

"These past two months – yes, two months we've been dating – have been the happiest I have felt in a long time… He has been kind to me, considerate… He hasn't pushed me or anything, he just hung out with me – he was in videos with me, showed me his work. Talked to me… We talked a hell of a lot… Last night… Yeah, we had sex last night, but it was the first time… It was the very first time we had done that. So what I think, Alfred, is that you have been acting so defensively because you thought Arthur was going to be just like you."

"What?"

"You thought Arthur was going to treat me just like you treat other women," I said easily. Arthur blinked and Alfred stared at me. "You slept with Sakura, spent one more day with her then ditched her. You've slept with other woman, had one night stands and have generally used people. There have been the few odd occasions where you've been with someone for longer than a month, but generally… That's why you were acting the way you were, you were guilty for the way you've treated women and didn't want the same to happen to me. Am I right?"

Alfred was silent for a moment before hanging his head low and sighing heavily. He nodded quietly and looked back up at me. "I just… I never knew any of that… and well… I kind of gathered somehow… Just slightly that you weren't happy… I mean, how quickly you lost weight and changed and… and how quickly you left home… I never thought of anything of…" he sighed. "We did you lie to me about him?"

"I was trying to tell you but anytime I went to bring him up you would change the subject…" I said. "And I knew you would probably do something stupid… I didn't think you'd try to kill him though…"

"You're being way to calm about this…" Alfred said quietly, pausing for a moment before throwing the icepack over to Arthur so he could use it on his nose. "Actually, before we go there, just… I want to know… Are you… are you happy with him?"

"I am the happiest I've been in years," I replied, smiling a little. "He treats me right and equally."

"So… why are you being so calm…?" Alfred asked. "I basically broke into your home and beat up your… boyfriend… and almost hurt you in the process… How can you be sat there so calmly in front of me… talking to me about things that have made you so sad… like it's nothing…?"

"Because I've had to deal with this feeling for a very long time," I replied honestly. "I've been able to sit on the side-lines in my own mind and understand why things have been happening the way they have. I've got over all the feelings I had of neglect and insignificance compared to you. I really have. I'm happy for you, I want you to do well with your life and to accept that I am doing the same with mine. I'm calm because I know why you did what you did and want you to know that I love you and appreciate what you did in some ways. I'm furious that you did it, but at the same time it's nice to know that my big brother still cares for me enough to do something like that…"

"Of course I care for you…" he said, putting his hands over mind. "You're my twin. My little sister… I know I can be loud and obnoxious and douche… But I'll always be there for you…"

"And you also have to let me make my own mistakes," I said, looking at him seriously. "At the moment this feels right between Arthur and I… I love him, Alfred, and he loves me. But if this were ever to fall apart then that'll be a lesson learnt on my part and a job for you to be my older brother and make sure that I'm okay again. But don't jeopardise either of your chances at work because of this… You were friends, colleagues… Don't mess up what seemed like a good friendship just because your friend is dating your little sister."

Arthur shifted to sit next to me on the table, using his free hand to hold out to Alfred. "No hard feelings?"

There was a moment of silence before Alfred let go of me and held Arthur's hand, shaking it. "Sorry for trying to break your face."

Arthur laughed. "Sorry I tried to do the same."

"You both look horrible by the way," I chuckled.

Things were finally starting to seem normal again despite the sight before me – my boyfriend bloody, bruised and in only his boxers, sat on the coffee table laughing with my bloodied and bruised brother. It seemed we had finally managed to start the foundation for our hypothetical home – it was small and fragile still but it was a start.

_**Notes:**_

**MOTHAFUCKINGDUN-DUN-DUHHHHHHHH**

**I'm sorry, I'm a loser.**

**Thanks for being patient! Took a weekend break to hopefully have a week full of updates! This being the first! I've actually chopped and changed the notes for this so there is one more chapter than I originally planned so I hope you're all grateful!**

**LATERS!**


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